Women officers are only showpieces in the Army!’ he said and went on with similar affronts. Those gendered swipes were made at a woman soldier discharging her duties at the sensitive Indo-Pak border for months at a stretch. She had seen no civilian life or even the face of another woman, while facing extreme weather conditions of the Thar Desert in the peak of winter; living in makeshift tents with no concrete roof above or floor below; with no privacy as a woman, as there were only male soldiers for miles around.
The accusations of ‘taking away our share of peace postings’ were made against a woman soldier who wore a dog tag and was out there, ready to make the supreme sacrifice for the country in the event of a war.
In 2001, India’s Parliament was attacked by Pakistan-trained terrorists. The then PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, decided to launch a retaliatory attack. Lakhs of troops were mobilised to the border.
She was a young Captain, on leave, when the orders of ‘recall from leave’ came. Leaving her two-year-old child, the mother reported on duty. Her Air Defence regiment, located in central India, got orders to get deployed along the border and the responsibility of safely transporting the goods train full of weapon systems, associated equipment and manpower was assigned to her. The train took 15 days to reach the operational area. The task was accomplished without a glitch. At no point did she think that she is a woman, and the only one in the train and the deployment area.
However, a woman living in an extreme war situation, performing exceptionally well and excelling, hurt the male ego of some fellow officers. Thus started the everyday nagging, derogatory remarks for being in a profession that didn’t belong to her gender. A climate of intimidation and insecurity was created — ‘women officers are a liability’. It was the sheer ugliness of this mansplaining that made her existence a hell, not the hardships and exigencies of service.
The perpetual sexist jibes lower the morale of women workers and drain out their energy, which otherwise is intended for job performance. Such hostile environment impacts the organisational culture and its overall efficiency. Research shows that 80% of women have been confronted with this phenomenon of mansplaining and manterrupting at work. In order to support inclusive and sustainable development, substantial measures need to be taken to prevent sexism and its manifestations in all public and private spheres.
Our defence forces are at a nascent stage of including women in the organisational setup. They have the opportunity to be at the forefront and lead by example by creating legislation, policies and programmes that perpetuate gender parity. Let them.